How to Post to Your Facebook Business Page Without Being Annoying

I hear this question from business owners a lot:

“How much should I post to my Facebook business Page?”

We don’t just want an answer, we want the right answer. Unfortunately, it’s not that simple. Facebook changes it’s algorithm all the time, and they don’t have to tell you when they change it or how it works. There is hope though. Here are SEVEN guidelines for posting to your Facebook business page.

Seven Guidelines for posting to your Facebook business page

(These appear in no particular order.)

1. Know your audience and their Facebook habits.

Photo credit: Cybex Fitness Blog

No, I don’t mean stalk people. But I do mean, have a general sense of how they use Facebook. Is your business a sweet cocktail bar? Then your patrons probably are young-er, and use Facebook to connect with old (or current) college friends on their mobile devices, and they like short videos and pictures of deliciously fancy cocktails and cans and cans of PBR.

2. Share different kinds of media, not just text!

I find it odd that we have to keep saying this, over and over. Your audience knows you have good things to say (or they like your brand/product), that’s why they “liked” your page. This is good, and we should keep it that way.

But when you post an update, your update will show up in your audience’s story feed. This will be in competition with their Aunt Sally’s weekend trip to the beach, their buddy Rusty’s sweet new mustang, that weird video unfortunately shared with the world by their co-worker, and a host of other friends, acquaintances, not-really-friends, relatives, and more Pages!

Your text updates will be buried by everything else, so mix it up a bit.

That’s not a Jesus-juke, that’s a quote. And it’s just the truth, you know? You feel good when you give stuff away, and you feel good when you get stuff for free.

“But I can’t just give stuff away, people need to pay me for my services!”

Yes, you are right. I’m not saying you should run discounts all day (or even at all, for that matter). I am saying that you have intimate knowledge of your craft or industry about which your audience has pegged you a trusted and reliable source.

They want to hear your opinion of the latest gadget, your take on breaking news (in your industry; remember to keep it relevant), etc. You’ve got their attention, which means the platform is yours. You are allowed to curate content as well as create it.

4. Track and analyze your audience data, and use it in your posting habits.

Facebook Pages has some powerful tools running in the background. You know that “insights” box that pops up when you open your Page tools? That baby will tell you about demographics, search behaviors, interactions, location, time of day… And “some people” are good at interpreting that information and gleaning even more useful knowledge from it.

But here’s a freebie: use that information to know when your audience interacts with Facebook the most, on average. And post then. Everyday.

5. Post more often than you think you should.

I’ve heard business owners gasp at the idea of posting more than twice a week.

That won’t happen, because Facebook is making it more and more difficult every day to build your audience for free.

You see, Facebook has this very powerful and secretive algorithm that tracks every user’s activity on their site (and sites connected to them). And in order to protect it’s users from spam and/or to improve upon the user’s experience, Facebook “protects” the user from being overwhelmed by any kind of Page or group that isn’t wanted. The algorithm is designed to guess at what the user wants based on his/her activity.

Big brother stuff.

But it’s great for the end user because, though they may not even realize it, they don’t see every single post from every single Page or group or Facebook-connected-website and instead see their best friend’s new puppy. Because that’s the stuff people care about.

Anyway, I’ll give you a number: post at least 3 to 5 times PER DAY. You can maybe slow down on the weekends, but keep track of that user data we talked about in #4. Maybe your audience uses Facebook on the weekends more than weekdays. You’ve got to know.

6. Use Facebook’s Boosted Post feature.

This one is quick. Just do it. Use all that information you’ve gathered to target your audience and spend a little money to get their attention.

We’ve already discussed that it’s difficult to compete with their #InRL friends, and Facebook knows this. But don’t let your sunshine get rained out! Big Bro—I mean… Facebook… wants to help you with this little problem. You can set up a Boosted Post (based on your best and most-interactive material) to run until it meets your budget restrictions and engage your audience.

Your post will get all the exposure it deserves. And believe me, this works. It’s worth every penny, even if it is to feed a soon-to-be Globally-Dominating-Super-Power.

7. Don’t get overwhelmed.

It’s more complicated than you thought, right? I know I felt that way when I first started learning all this. There’s a lot that goes into it. Graphic design, scheduling, copywriting, polls, comments, replies, layout changes, pins, favorite posts, discounts, live events, and more!

Don’t freak out.

I’m here to help you navigate. Stick around this blog and you’ll learn more about social networking and internet marketing for business leaders. And if you’re ready to get serious, get your free quote and I’ll help you increase your followers, interactions, and profit margins.